Extra Life Markham was an event which was part of the Extra Life campaign where it encourages people to play games for 24 hours, in order to raise money for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. This year, the campaign has raised over $5.6 million and I am so glad I was able to be a part of it! Extra Life Markham was in support of SickKids Foundation, and participants paid a minimum donation of $7 where they were able to play a vast variety of games that WoodForSheep provided.

Great t-shirts!

I had the opportunity to play many games like Dix It, Crokinole, Bamboleo and Sushi Go. WoodForSheep provided a great selection of games and I was able to play my favorite games.

Bamboleo

Crokinole

The event was great, and my friends and I had an amazing time. I would definitely attend another Extra Life event! Extra Life is a great initiative that is truly making a difference! For more information about Extra Life, visit http://www.extra-life.org.

The Toronto West Halloween Fest was in support of St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation and it was hosted on Bloor Street West between Jane and Runnymede. The street was closed off for mini events for the kids and a costume parade. It was another great experience volunteering with St.Joe’s. My friend and I were in charge of managing the mascot area, so we had the opportunity to see many fun mascots such as Carleton the Bear and Pachi from the Pan Am Games.

Carleton the Bear!

The event has raised over $28,000 and I am happy that I got the opportunity to volunteer for the event. More information about the event can be found here.

Overall, this weekend was awesome being able to participate in different events that supported great causes. I’m on the hunt for the next charity event to attend or volunteer for!

Recently my friend asked me to help her with the St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation booth at the Ukrainian Festival. The 19th annual Ukrainian Festival took place in the Bloor West Village from September 12th – 14th 2014.

Here are a few photos I took during the festival:

The St. Joe’s booth was set up in the heart of the festival, which generated great awareness for the booth. The booth’s purpose was to raise awareness of the foundation and the upcoming community events organized by the foundation. We were helping to promote their Cycle 4 St. Joe’s event and the Toronto West Halloween Fest. Many people approached the booth to share their experiences with St.Joe’s. It was extremely heart warming to see how St. Joe’s has had such a large impact on the people in the community. From stories about the birth of their children at St. Joe’s to the stories of how impactful the doctors were, it truly made me understand the bond that this hospital had with its community.

Overall, I had a great time volunteering with St. Joe’s and I definitely would do it again. My friends and I had an awesome time speaking to people in the community and I’m happy to support such a great foundation!

It’s National Volunteer Week in Canada! This is a time where volunteers across Canada are recognized and celebrated for their hard work and dedication to supporting important causes and making a difference! For more information, visit http://volunteer.ca/nvw2014.

In November, I volunteered at the Southlake Foundation gala! It was so nice to receive this in the mail from them today:

It was nice to feel recognized and appreciated! I especially liked the personal touch with the signatures from the staff at Southlake.

Many different charities also came out with videos to thank their volunteers. Here are a few:

Another great aspect of this campaign, is the “Volunt-HEAR Hotline” where people can call in, thank their volunteers, and their recording will be posted on volunteer.ca! You can also join the conversation, and thank your volunteers on Twitter by using the hashtag #NVW2014!

On behalf of HSFYork, we thank our general members and volunteers for their support throughout the school year. Our success wouldn’t be possible without them!

After planning many fundraisers with my clubs and being a part of the third party fundraiser team at the Heart & Stroke Foundation, I thought I’d share with you some tips I’ve learned throughout the years!

1. Sponsorship: As informal as this may seem, I found the most effective way to get in contact with the sponsorship rep from companies was through Twitter. A simple tweet at companies you’d like to sponsor your fundraiser, which asks them for the contact information of the sponsorship rep. This was a lot easier than going through the company website, and submitting an email to the general corporate email address. Most of the in-kind sponsorship I’ve received for events, were through this method! But keep in mind, most companies take 1-3 months to process your request, so plan ahead!

2. Promotion: Two great sites that I use to get the word out there in the local community is BlogTo and Snap. BlogTo has a great event page, which is easy to set up. It takes less than 5 minutes to input your fundraiser information and after a few days, it’s on their official events calendar! Snap Newspaper is also a great way to promote. Not only do they have an events calendar (which is also easy to input your information with fast approval), they also send out a tweet on their page the day before your event. In addition, they will send a photographer to cover your event too! Afterward, one photo is featured in their monthly newspaper. All this is free, which is an excellent way to gain awareness within your community!

My HSFYork team featured in SNAP Downtown!

3. Charity’s Resources: Just because you’re supporting the charity, doesn’t mean they can’t support you too! Make sure you utilize the resources they provide. Many charities have platforms where you can set up an third party event page, which is directly affiliated to their website. You can set up your event fundraising page, allowing people to donate online too! Also, they’re able to help provide advice, if you have any questions when you’re planning your fundraiser. Charities are often able to write a letter of support, which is an official document stating that you are having a fundraiser that is benefiting the corresponding charity. I found this helped a lot when I was seeking partnerships and sponsorship for my fundraisers since it adds credibility to your fundraiser! Here’s a list of ways the Heart and Stroke Foundation supports our fundraisers: click here!

I hope you’ll find my tips helpful! Best of luck with your fundraisers!

My final fundraiser for my Heart and Stroke Foundation club at York University was yesterday. Art Night, was in partnership with the Winters Community Art Club at York and it was a night of casual painting, drawing, origami and refreshments. Of course, all in support of the Heart and Stroke Foundation!

We were very thankful to be sponsored by Starbucks who supplied our guests with hot coffee and Tim Hortons who sponsored with timbits and cookies.

Guests had the opportunity to paint, draw or do origami. Here are pictures from some of the guests!

All the guests enjoyed themselves, and we hope to donate some of the pieces to a heart and stroke ward at a local hospital. Overall, it was a great event to end off the school year! I’m very proud of what HSFYork has accomplished this year. We did a lot of different types of fundraisers this year that really alligned with our mission – to raise money AND awareness for the Heart and Stroke Foundation! Moving forward to next year, I believe HSFYork is stronger than ever and will definitely keep growing!